Dragon Riders: Origins
by Anonymaton
Summary: In an alternate universe, Hiccup and his friend Razorre have become the first Dragon Riders! Let's see how they navigate the newfound hurdles the gods throw at them. Revised version of old story. Will start updating again in the near future.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello my loyal readers! And by loyal I mean those patient enough to put up with me. Anyway, I've read over some of my previous work and decided "Jeez I can do better than that" or "I kinda wish I did this part a different way." So I have decided to do a complete overhaul of my longer running stories with minor and major tweaks. Also, flashbacks and inner dialogue will be given a tilt. Fair warning. Hope you enjoy!**_

 _"This is Berk. It's a rock sitting in the middle of nowhere and is home to a group of very charming people, if you get my drift. Life can be good or bad but it's still home. The biggest problem is the pests. Sure you got mice and mosquitos, but here on Berk, we got dragons. Not that this stopped my tribe from putting down roots here. We're vikings, or in other words, we have stubborness issues. My name's Hiccup. Don't laugh please, it's emberassing enough as it is. Anyway, my tribe generally spends one or two nights a week dealing with dragon attacks. The best of us are celebrated for the number of dragon heads we have mounted on our walls. I want to be one of the people, but unfortunately I'm stuck making sure that the weapons these people use are able to do the job. Oh sure I get a shot from time to time, but it usually blows up in my face, both physically and metaphorically. I'm the oddball, the screwup and the shrimp all wrapped up in one guy, so naturally my tribe looks at me with disdain and mockery. Also, did I mention I'm the chief's son? Yeah, that really weighs on my shoulders just as much as my dad's. Anyway, I'd best stop having this inner monologue before a gronkle blasts me into valhalla and back."_

Hiccup looked up from his station at the forge and watched as several vikings flailed past him, screaming bloody murder. He ducked a fireball from a Gronkle and turned his eyes back to the sword he was sharpening while another Viking charged the flying rock.

"Hey Hiccup, you got any bola materials over there!?" A voice shouted from the other side of the shop. Hiccup looked back to see his friend and partner in the forge, Razorre.

"There's some to my left, second shelf!" Hiccup called back. Hiccup finished with the sword and carried it back to Gobber. Gobber grabbed it and tossed it to a viking outside. Razorre darted past him and grabbed the bola parts he needed. Hiccup watched as Razorre began to assemble a bola with speed born from years of practice. He was like Hiccup in a way. He was rather scrawny for his age and preferred to think his way out instead of punching his way out. He did however make up for this by being wickedly fast. Ever since he was little he could outsprint anyone, which was a sore spot for both Snotlout and Astrid, because Snotlout usually won at any sport and Astrid hated losing repeatedly in the same person. Razorre also had black hair and electric blue eyes. He lived in a spare room in Gobber's house.

"I still don't know how you make those so fast."

Razorre smirked at Hiccup.

"Lots of practice young apprentice. Lots of practice."

"Hey, I was Gobber's apprentice before you!"

Gobber slammed his good hand down on the table and rounded on them.

"Would you two stop bickering and get back ta work?!"

Both Hiccup and Razorre muttered fine. They both resented the fact that they weren't allowed out to fight dragons because they were small. They had been stuck in the weapons shop since they were little, while the other teens were making sure that Berk didn't burn to the ground. Snotlout and the twins loved rubbing it in. Astrid just looked at them in contempt. Fishlegs was Fishlegs, nothing else. They were both looking for ways to circumvent that problem of being in a confined space full of metal and weapons forever, but so far, Hiccup was the only one making notable progress, if underappretiated progress. Hiccup took a long look at his bola launcher, wishing for a chance to give it a trial run. Razorre caught Hiccup staring at the machine and motioned to him that he was about to make a distraction. He reached down and pulled a small metal ball from under the table. He then took and and hucked it through the air and right into the eye of a Monstrous Nightmare, which immediately began attacking the shop. Gobber immediately vaulted out the window and began a deluge of insults at the enraged dragon. Hiccup, seeing the distraction in motion, immediately grabbed his contraption and charged out the front door. Razorre, in the meanwhile began sharpening an axe and whistling Berk's viking song, hoping Hiccup didn't make a fool of himself. Again.

Hiccup was running through the village like a maniac. He eventually reached a good spot to open up the bola launcher and began looking for a target. Razorre in the meantime was done sharpening the axe and was trying to build more bolas when he heard an unfamiliar dragon cry. He looked out to see a shadow hurtle overhead. Short seconds later, several bolts of lightning shot down and struck several nearby vikings. They yelled, convulsed, then dropped. Some of them had some ridiculous expressions on their faces. Then he saw it. A Skrill. The dragon had a triangular head and bared a slight resemblance to a Nadder. It began firing lightning bolts wherever it looked. Then he saw something. A viking was hiding in it's blind spot, sword raised to strike, when suddenly a bolt of lightning changed direction and struck the sword tip, creating another goofy expression. The hilarity stopped however, when Razorre noticed that the Skrill was closing on Fishlegs.

Hiccup scanned the skies carefully, searching for something to shoot out of the sky. He silently repeated the prayer to down a dragon. Suddenly, he spotted the silliouet of a dragon about to make a pass. He could feel it. this was the shot. He pulled the trigger and launched the bola. The force of the impact through him back though, but he still heard the snap that indicated the dragon was hit.

"I hit it... OH YES I HIT IT! Did ANYBODY see that?!"

Hiccup heard a loud crunch and saw an angry Nightmare behind him.

"Except for you."

Razorre vaulted the shop window and sprinted without hesitation towards Fishlegs, who was cowering in fear. Just befor the Skrill unleashed a lightning blast Razorre full on collided with Fishlegs, pushing out of the line of fire. Razorre wasn't so lucky. He was knocked ten feet by the blast and was knocked unconcious. Gobber noticed this and bellowed a horrendous warcry as he hobbled into battle. The dragon turned and snarled at him, but realized that it was out of charge. Short seconds later, several bola wrapped around is legs, wings and neck, causing it to plummet to the ground. One of the villagers picked up Razorre and carried him back into the weapons shop. Gobber turned to see Hiccup running for his life as a Nightmare closed in on him from behind. Gobber shook his head and started after the boy when Stoick leapt out of nowhere and engaged the Nightmare with his bare hands. After a thorough beating, the Nightmare ran off, leaving Hiccup to deal with Stoick.

"It's not like the last few times dad, I mean I really actually hit it. It went down just of raven point. lets get a..."

"STOP! Your so wrapped up in this that you haven't even noticed that Razorre's been injured!" Hiccup stopped dead.

"Wait what?! What happened?"

Gobber hobbled up beside Hiccup.

"He got blasted by a Skrill while trying to make sure that Fishlegs _didn't_ get blasted. He'll be fine. Gothi's fixin' 'im up as we speak. I'm still going to need you to pull double duty in the shop for a while though."

Hiccup didn't even argue, which opened up a long speech from Stoick about winter and feeding the village and Hiccup's inventions causing all sorts of disasters.

"Oh, and somebody drag that Skrill to the kill ring!"

Finally, after a Stoick had gotten it out of his system and made sure that the Skrill was unconscious, Gobber was told to escort Hiccup back to his house. On the way, the twins and Snotlout decided some prodding was neseccery. The twins' made no sense, but Snotlout went one to far.

"Seriously, I have never seen such a big screwup. You should go ask Gothi to try and fix you like your friend."

Gobber decided that this warranted a helmet being slammed over his head and a kick to the groin with his pegleg. This brought some chuckles out of everyone. Hiccup kept his head low, still trying to get over the shock of his friend being hurt, as well as wondering where the dragon he shot down was now.

"Why was a Skrill here? We never see them around Berk."

Gobber shook his head.

"Don' ask me laddie. I wouldn' know. We can' hope to understand everything about dragons. Just kill 'em."

Eventually the reached the chief's house, after a rather frustrating discussion about Hiccup and Razorre's dragon fighting problem, and Hiccup went inside without a word. Gobber exhaled exasperatedly and walked off towards the meade hall for the village gathering. Unbeknownst to him, Hiccup had snuck out the back door.

Several minutes after the meeting in the meade hall, Gobber walked back to his weapon shop. He hobbled up the stairs to check on his second apprentice. Gothi was still inside.

"How ya doing kid?"

Razorre was lying on a blanket and had bandages wrapped around his forhead, torso, and his right arm. He opened his eyes and winced.

"Been better. Remind me to never do that again. How long am I going to be stuck here?"

Gothi grabbed her staff and began sketching in some sand she had scattered on the floor.

"Aha, aheh, hmmm... She says that you'll be on your feet in a waffle."

Gothi immediately clubbed Gobber with her staff.

"Ow, sorry. I meant week. You'll be on your feet in a week. She also says that you'll have to not push yourself to hard. No smithing and no heavy excersize like running for three days after that."

Razorre nodded and winced again.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to entertain myself for a week. Hey Gobber, do you know where Hiccup is?"

Gobber shrugged.

"Last I knew at his house, but he probably went off into the forest after I left."

Razorre nodded and shut his eyes. This was going to be a very long week. Gothi tossed another blanket over him, packed up her things and left, leaving Razorre alone with his thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I've had a thought. Why should I force you all to wait for a month to get more chapters? Especially since I wrote these when my standard chapter length was in the 1k to 2k range? The answer is that I shouldn't. Make no mistake, this is just to keep you all tided over while this goes on a temporary hiatus until I feel I've completed enough chapters to start uploading properly. Still, I think you'll enjoy. I'm giving you four chapters over the course of four days or less, depending on how I feel, and then this story will pick up when I come back after completing my current project.**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

Hiccup was absolutely sure that the gods possessed a very cruel sense of humour and a deep loathing for his guts. Somehow, he had managed to lose an entire dragon on an island in the middle of nowhere. How this was possible, he had no idea. By this point, he was trying to find the dragon for a two reasons. One, the main reason, was to proove to his tribe, and more specifically his father, that he was a true viking. The other reason was to alleviate his guilt that he decided to go dragon hunting rather then visit Razorre. His thoughts wandered back to when Razorre arrived on the island.

It was when Hiccup was three years old. He was exploring the beach when he came across some wreckage washed up on shore. He immediately ran back to the village and told his father. Stoick and Gobber arrive late with a few other vikings and searched the wreckage until they came across Razorre. He was half buried under broken and charred wood. They looked around for some sign of where the ship was from, but they came up empty handed. So they brought him back to the village and fixed him up. But it seemed that Razorre was suffering from memory loss, remembering only his name and some very vague images. Ever since, Razorre had been living in that room above Gobber's shop and Hiccup's closest friend. They'd been working in the smithy for as long as they could remember. That made it all the more important to find that dragon. He wanted something to prove that both he and Razorre could hold their own on the battlefield. So far, that wasn't going so well.

In a sudden outburst, he swatted a tree branch, only to have it retaliate and smack him in the face. Hiccup cursed under his breath before noticing that the tree that had smacked him was split close to the base of the trunk by a significant impact. Something had broken this tree. Something big.

* * *

Gobber was restless. He couldn't concentrate on the axe he was supposed to be sharpening with Razorre upstairs, who was still dazed from his encounter with the Skrill. It was a miracle that he had survived at all. Gobber had managed to get Stoick's permission to postpone training until Razorre was at least able to observe. Then he could make up the time he missed with extra training. He would need it anyway. With the amount of time he was going to spend without everyday movement, he was going to lose alot of his already lacking muscle mass.

"Gobber?"

Said viking raised his head from the axe and saw Fishlegs. He was fidgeting nervously.

"Yes laddy?"

"Is Razorre okay?"

Gobber put the axe down and heaved a great sigh.

"He'll pull through. Either that Skrill held back, or it didn't have much charge to begin with. He'll be off his feet for a week, but he'll be up and about to watch dragon training and participate after the first class."

Fishlegs visibly relaxed a bit. Gobber put his hand and hook on his hips.

"Where are the others, Fishlegs? Seems they took off without you."

Fishlegs just shrugged.

"The twins are probably fighting, Astrid's probably training, and Snotlout's probably crying in the woods from that kick you gave him." Fishlegs smirked at that last comment. Gobber chuckled.

"Aye, that was very satisfying. He's had it comin' for a long time."

They both shared another laugh before Fishlegs turned all serious.

"Do you know when I can pay him a visit? He did take that shot for me. so I feel kinda obligated to thank him."

Gobber shook his head.

"Ask Gothi. She's the healer. I just make weapons and kill dragons. But if I had to guess, I would say at least a day, if not more."

Fishlegs nodded.

"Thanks Gobber."

Gobber returned to the axe, while Fishlegs hurried off. After fifteen minutes, Gobber had enough. There was something nawing at him. Something that he had forgotten for twelve years. He grabbed a ladder and began to rifle through the storage area in his smithy. After a few minutes of rummaging, he found an old chest. It was marked with an odd sigil: a hollow circle with three fin like spikes emerging from it in a triangular pattern. He hadn't looked at the chest since it was discovered in the wreckage they found Razorre in.

* * *

Hiccup gazed in wonder and fear at the massive gouge he had found in the dirt next to the broken tree. He slowly slid down the side, avoiding the freshly exposed tree roots and rocks. After reaching the bottom he peaked over, only to duck back down as he spotted a large black dragon wrapped in a bola. He slowly raised his head and cautiously got a better look at the dragon. It had for legs, gigantic black wings, and a large shovelesque head. It appeared to unconcious, or dead. Hiccup slid down behind a boulder and drew his knife. He slowly peered out from behind the rock and approached the creature.

"Oh, I did it. I did it! Oh, this fixes everything! Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!"

At that moment, the dragon suddenly jerked it's body, throwing Hiccup backwards. He stood up slowly, hearing the heavy breathing of the dragon. Hiccup tenatively reapproached the dragon. His gaze gradually turned towards the dragon's head only to find the dragon was watching him with massive green eyes with a single black slit for a pupil. Hiccup stared into that single eye for a few seconds, before steeling himself for what he had come here to do.

"I'm going to kill you dragon. I'm going to cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a viking. I am a viking!"

The Night Fury simply let it's head drop to the ground and closed it's eyes, seemingly given up. Hiccup raised the weapon above his head, ready to deal the final blow. But he couldn't. No matter how many times he tried, he simply could not bring himself to drive the dagger home. Finally he let his arms drop to his side.

"I did this."

He looked at the dagger, then back at the dragon.

 _"I must be absolutely crazy."_

The Night Fury's eyes snapped open as one of the ropes snapped as well. Another rope snapped. And another. Suddenly, Hiccup was pinned against a rock by a jet black paw. Hiccup gazed in terror into the vivid green eyes of a very angry dragon. The two of them stared at eachother for a second, until the Night Fury reared back it's head, seemingly preparing to blow Hiccup's head to kingdom come. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable, only to instead have his ears boxed by the Night Fury's roar. He opened his eyes to see the dragon dart off through the forest. Hiccup slowly rose to his feet and started walking away before collapsing.

* * *

It was nightfall by the time Hiccup got back to his house. He tried to dart upstairs without attracting the attention of his father, but in typical fashion that wasn't going to be the case.

"Hiccup."

"Dad! I, uh, need to talk to you dad."

"I need to speak with you too son."

"I've decided that I don't want to fight dragons. what? ("I think it's time for you to learn to fight dragons. what?")

"You go first."

"No, no you go first."

"Okay. Dragon training. You start in a week."

"Oh, man. I shoulda gone first because, you know dad we have a surplus of dragon fighting vikings, but do we have enough bread making vikings or small home repair vikings or..."

"You'll need this." Stoick announced as he dropped an ornate axe into Hiccup's arms. Hiccup buckled under it's weight and tried to get out of the situation he was in.

"I don't wanna fight dragons." Stoick laughed at this.

"Oh, come on. Yes you do." Hiccup decided to try again.

"Let me rephrase that. Dad, I can't kill dragons."

"But you will kill dragons." Stoick sounded almost excited.

"No, I'm really extra sure that I won't."

"It's time son."

"Can you not hear me?!"

"This is serious, son! When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. That means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of this." Stoick made a motion with his hand in Hiccup's general direction. Hiccup was suddenly rather annoyed.

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one sided."

"Deal?!" Hiccup slumped his shoulders in defeat.

"Deal."

"Good. Now get some sleep. We have a lot to talk about tomorrow." Hiccup turned to leave, then paused.

"Hey dad, what about Razorre? Is he going to train too?" Stoick paused.

"Gothi says he's going to miss the first class, but he'll be there for the rest of them. She says that the injuries aren't as bad as she originally thought." Hiccup visibly relaxed and climbed up the stairs into his room. He looked over his schematics of the 'mangler' before hiding them above the rafters in his room. After some thoughts about his encounter with the Night Fury, he fell asleep.

* * *

Razorre winced as Gothi tugged rather hard on the fresh bandages. She had removed them to see how the burns from the Skrill's lightning were healing. Based on her reaction, they were healing relatively fast. She had applied a salve to it and was just finishing the rebandaging. Afterwards, she wacked her staff on the wall a few times, signaling Gobber that she needed a translator. She through some sand on the ground and began to scribble in it.

"She says that the burns are healing faster than she thought. You might not need to stay here for the full week, but you'll still need to stay for at least two days and the same three days of no hard work are still in potato (Whack) place!"

Razorre rolled his eyes at Gobber's latest messup in translating and tried to get more confortable. That was a task in it's own right due to the fact that he had nothing to do for the last three days except stare at the ceiling, eat the meals that Gothi brought him, and look over the contents of the chest that Gobber had given him two days ago. Gobber said they found it in the wreckage of the boat they had found Razorre in. So far, the only things Razorre had found in the chest were some official documents, a knife, and an old journal. He'd looked through the documents several times, but nothing of note ever came up. Just strange names and events. The one thing that was remotely interesting was a symbol that kept popping up everywhere A hollow circle with three fin-like spikes emerging from it in a triangle. Hiccup had visited a few times, but the only people he saw consistantly were Gobber and Gothi. He was at the end of his rope. He needed something to entertain himself until he was allowed to walk again.

"Hey Gobber, do you think you could bring me the dragon manual? Since I have nothing else to, I might as well make up for what I'll be missing in training by doing some studying."

Gobber nodded.

"Sure thing. I'll go grab it from the great hall."

Razorre closed his eyes and tried to get some more rest. He was going to need it.

* * *

Hiccup was exhausted. With Razorre unable to work in the forge, he was being forced to pull both his and Razorre's workload in order to keep on top of things. There was a blessing from this though. The constant workflow had kept his mind off of dragon traing that was coming in a few days. Stoick had been trying to give Hiccup some pre-training pointers, but Hiccup used his duties at the forge as an excuse to get out of it. He also couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with the Night Fury. He wanted to go take a look and see if he could find it, but his long days at the forge left him too exhausted to even try. He couldn't wait for this all to be over and life to return to normal.

"Oi, Hiccup! We got a request for a new spear! Get goin'!"

Hiccup looked up where he was taking a break and walked slowly over to the forge. After looking at who the spear was for, he grabbed a lump of iron and began to melt it down. This was going to be a long five days.


	3. Chapter 3

**To Hellheim with it! You're getting four chapters in one day! EVERYONE CELEBRATE!**

Razorre waited patiently Gothi unwrapped his bandages finally. The burns were gone, but there was still a blotchy scar on his front. Gothi shook her head and gathered up her supplies. Before she left, she scratched something into the sand pile she left in his room. Gobber immediately began translating.

"You're free to walk around the village, but don't strain yourself. Your body still needs time to recover from being motionless for so many Daves (Whack) days! Seriously, you need to work on your scribbling (Whack) Never mind! It's absolute art!"

Gothi rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Razorre immediately got up and stretched as far as he could reach. Afterwards, he got up and walked out of his room. He strolled through the town, happy to be able to get some fresh air and use his legs again. Several of the villagers smiled and waved as he walked by. Even Snotlout was being slightly nicer. The key word there being slightly.

"Here comes the big hero! Hey everyone, line up for autographs!"

Razorre rolled his eyes at Snotlout's attempt at sarcasm. That was Hiccup's realm of expertise. Razorre had a long walk up to the arena and back down, pausing periodically to rest. His stamina was alot lower since he had spent so much time sedentary. Afterwards, he met up with Hiccup in the great hall for dinner.

"So, how's it feel to be back on your feet?"

"Great. I probably would have spent the whole day walking if Gothi hadn't warned me to take it easy. The moment I'm allowed to run and work in the forge again, I'm going to do as much as possible. I need to rebuild my stamina, and I don't even want to know how bad my running is now."

Hiccup raised his mug.

"Cheers to that!"

The two friends toasted and took a long gulp of their drinks. Razorre immediately began attacking his fish. Hiccup took his time with his chicken leg. After finishing their meals, they began discussing dragon training.

"I still can't believe they're actually letting us train. I mean, I'm not complaining, but I never thought they'd actually let us so much as set foot within five feet of the arena, much less train there."

Hiccup nodded silently. He was still worried about what he was getting into. If he couldn't kill a dragon when it was at his mercy, then how would he kill one that was after his guts?

Razorre got up and stretched.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'll turn in. the more rest I get, the more I can work on getting back up to speed. See you in the morning!"

Razorre promptly walked out of the hall and back to Gobber's shop. Hiccup in the meantime, was walking back to his house as well. Once he got inside, he collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep, ready for another day.

"Welcome to dragon training!"

Gobber seemed very excited. The teens walked into the arena, eagerly awaiting their first instruction. Astrid muttered 'no turning back' as she strode into the center of the arena. Razorre watched from outside, simply praying that Hiccup made it through in one piece.

"I'm hoping for some serious burns!" Tuffnut announced.

"I'm hoping for some mauling like, on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut countered

"Eh, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid replied. Hiccup, in typical fashion, responded with some ill recieved sarcasm.

"Yeah not kidding. Pain, blood." The teens were not amused.

"Oh great, who let him in?" Tuffnut groaned. Razorre shot him a look from the outside of the arena. Gobber quickly began talking in order to avoid further hostilities.

"Let's get started! The recruit that does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" Hiccup cringed inwardly at this news.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or..." The twins snickered at this comment. Tuffnut proceded to mutter a side comment about moving up classes. Gobber decided to try a viking pep talk.

"Don't worry. You and Razorre are small and weak. That'll make the two of you less of a target! They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more viking like teens instead." Gobber's pep talk didn't do much. Hiccup simply got in line with the other vikings and listened as Gobber began rattling off a list of dragons that they would be learning to fight. Fishlegs, to everyone's annoyance, began rattling off a list of statistics for the dragons that Gobber was listing. Finally Gobber had enough.

"CAN YOU STOP THAT!? And the gronkle." Gobber smiled at this last name and placed a hand on the release lever for the dragon pen. Suddenly the teens were apprehensive. Snotlout especially.

"Woah woah wait, aren't you going to teach us first?!" Gobber's smile only widened.

"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber replied as he pulled the lever. Immediately, the dragon burst through the doors and flew straight for a pile of rocks.

"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, your dead! Quick what's the first thing you're going to need?"

The teens immediately started shouting out answers until Astrid answered with 'a shield!'

"Shields, go! Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you have to make a choice between a sword and a shield, take the shield!"

The twins immediately began arguing over a shield and were eliminated with a single shot. Gobber started yelling that the shields were good for noise. The teens all began to club their shields with their weapons, causing the gronkle to start dipping haphazardly in flight. The teens immediately began darting off in different directions in order to avoid being targeted. Gobber took this time to start asking the teens what the Gronkle's shot limit was. Fishlegs got this one correct, but was immediately eliminated due to his lack of attention to the angry dragon behind him. Hiccup had opted to take shelter behind a weapons rack. Gobber noticed this and immediately yelled at Hiccup to get back in the middle. Razorre just shook his head, glad at least that no one was seriously injured, then noticed that Snotlout was trying once again to flirt with Astrid, only to be blasted by the Gronkle when she tumbled out of the way. She led the Gronkle to Hiccup and let him get blasted. Razorre sucked in air as he saw Hiccup go chasing after his shield with the Gronkle in hot pursuit. Gobber yelled as the Gronkle pinned Hiccup to the wall and got ready to blast him, only to have it's jaw yanked away from Hiccup by Gobber's hook. After he locked the dragon up again, he addressed the teens.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry. Remember, a dragon will always. Always, go for the kill."

This knowledge really nawed at Hiccup. Gobber helped him up and walked out of the arena. Razorre was waiting for him outside.

"You ok?"

"I'll live. Just a bit shaken."

The two friends kept walking down the stairs. Eventually Gobber sidled up beside them.

"Next training session is in two days. Both of you should be ready to work hard. And Razorre, you need to work extra hard. See you both in the great hall for dinner!"

Razorre sat down and heaved a sigh. Hiccup felt a nagging feeling in his gut about what Gobber had said.

"I'm gonna go take a walk. See you at dinner."

Razorre nodded and walked off to the great hall. Hiccup jogged to the forest and followed an old trail back to the crash site.

"Why didn't you?" Hiccup wondered aloud as he examined the cut bola. He looked off in the direction the Night Fury had flown off in and began following the imaginary trail, arriving at a beautiful cove. He looked around for a moment, then muttered something 'stupid' before noticing some very intruiging rocks. They were all angular and black. Then he realized that they were scales. All of a sudden, the Night Fury shot past him, scrambling madly at the stone basin before collapsing back to the ground. Hiccup quickly got over his shock and slid down into a better vantage point. He pulled out his sketchbook and charcoal pencil and began sketching the dragon. It made a few more attempts to escape, then had a go at catching some fish. Hiccup felt a pang of sadness for the beast. It was apparently unable to fly and was having some trouble catching a meal. It must have caught something though since it was still alive, but it was clearly hungry. This lapse in concentration led him to dropping his pencil and thus alerting the dragon that he was there. The two watched eachother for a few seconds, almost curiously until he realized that he was going to be late at the great hall for dinner. He immediately bolted from the cove and back up to the great hall.

* * *

Razorre was sitting by himself, his fish half eaten. He was listening to the Gobber lecture the teens about where they fell short today. It wasn't that hard. Everyone except Astrid and Hiccup ended up distracted by one thing or another. Finally, Gobber asked what Astrid did wrong. she responded with saying that she fell short on her acrobatics trick earlier. Razorre couldn't resist adding to this.

"She also left two recruits to be blasted to smithereens by the Gronkle. I mean, doesn't it seem like we need to have more vikings to combat the dragons instead of using them as distractions to gain all the glory?"

The great hall fell dead silent. All eyes were on Razorre. Astrid had a look of shock, then an 'I will split your skull if you say that again' look. Razorre ignored this and went back to his fish.

"ahhhhh, yes. Good point Razorre. Always look out for your comrades in the heat of battle." Gobber said nervously. By that point, Hiccup had entered the hall, heard Razorre's comment, then grabbed a chicken leg and slumped into his seat beside Razorre.

"Where did Hiccup go wrong in the ring today?" The twins were immediately ready to trash talk.

"Uh, he showed up?"

"He didn't get eaten?" Astrid, in typical fashion gave the correct answer.

"He's never where he should be." Gobber almost sighed with relief.

"Thank you Astrid." Razorre however narrowed his eyes. That statement was also a shot at Hiccup, implying that he should be kicked out of training.

"You need to live and breathe this stuff."

Gobber tossed a book on the table and started yammering again.

"The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."

Gobber looked up at the ceiling as the sky rumbled. Razorre visibly tensed up.

"No attacks tonight. Study up."

Razorre just shrugged and left the hall. He could hear the twins and Snotlout complaining about the prospect of reading and muttered under his breath something about them being unable to read. He walked back to Gobber's shop and drifted off to sleep.

Razorre got up early the next morning and realized that this was the day. He was able to start doing hard work again! He immediately dashed downstairs and grinned from ear to ear when he saw the forge was fired up and ready to roll. He immediately grabbed a several pieces of paper and a charcoal pencil before running into his small workstation and beginning to sketch an idea he had. After working at it for a few hours, it was done.

 _This is going to be a good one._

Razorre grabbed a large lump of scrap metal and began melting it down. While he waited, he began working on a mold for his design. The process took some time, but in the end he was impressed. This was going to be brilliant.

As soon as the metal was melted down, he poured it into the mold and let it cool for a few seconds before breaking the mold and grabbing his hammer. He hammered away for a good long time until he was satisfied with the end result. From there, he grabbed a pair of tongs and dipped his project into the a barrel of water, listening to the hiss of the steam rushing past. From there, he fabricated a few more parts and fit them all together. The end result was an elegant short sword with a crossguard shaped like dragon wings and a hilt made of tough oak wood and wrapped in black leather. He went on to make a black leather scabbard with the symbol from the chest sewn in red thread near the top.

"Quite a sword ya got there laddie."

Razorre jumped as he noticed Gobber standing nearby.

"How long have you been there Gobber?"

Gobber shrugged.

"About fifteen minutes, give or take. I heard ya poundin' away and decided to see what you were workin' on. I'm impressed, but it seems a bit fancy."

Razorre shrugged.

"You try being unable to act creatively for eight days and see what happens to you. It may look too pretty for fighting, but I'm still taking it into the arena tomorrow."

Gobber looked shocked.

"You want to use that thing to fight dragons?! We have plenty of better weapons for the job! If you wanted to use a sword we have plenty in the armory, better for fighting than that gilded toothpick!"

Razorre raised an eyebrow.

"And how many of them am I going to actually be able to use? I can't lift a war hammer, I can't swing an axe, most swords are too heavy for me to wield properly, so why not use something I can use to better effect than anyone else? This 'gilded toothpick' as you put it, is way faster than any other weapon in the armory and that is what's going to save me. You know that I'm not going to be able to rely on strength to fight, so I'll use my speed and agility as well as my brain to stay alive. I made this sword with that in mind."

Gobber shrugged.

"Doesn't seem very viking-like to me."

Razorre rolled his eyes.

"I'm hardly a viking, so I have to find other means to hold my own."

Gobber laughed heartily.

"Fair enough. Well, you better start practicing! Your going up against the Nadder tomorrow and you'll need everything you have."

Razorre grinned and nodded before grabbing his sword and running off into the woods to practice. Unbeknownst to him, three sets of eyes were watching him.

* * *

Hiccup woke up and groaned. He had not slept well that night. He couldn't stop thinking about the Night Fury. Since he had a day off, he decided to go take another look at the dragon. He stopped to grab a couple of fish and left quickly, hoping that no one would spot him. He reached the cove in under five minutes, having memorized the path after walking it twice. Once he reached sink hole he peaked in for a look. The dragon appeared to be hiding. Deciding not to take chances, Hiccup threw the fish into the cove and left. At least the dragon wouldn't die of starvation for a while. After reaching the village, he went to the smithy and got busy working on a new knife. Gobber was already occupied working on some new spears. After forty five minutes, Hiccup had finished the new weapon and tossed it into his pile of weapons.

"Hey Gobber, where's Razorre?"

Gobber didn't even look up from his work.

"He's training with a sword he made this morning. Odd weapon, that."

Hiccup decided to look in Razorre's work station and found the sketch of the weapon. Hiccup had to agree that it was an unusual choice for combat. He set down the sketch and decided to go for a walk. Along the way he noticed something. Snotlout and the twins were missing. He asked around, but all he got were surly looks and 'I don't know'. After a while he gave up and decided to go do some more work in the forge. He worked for a few hours, making new weapons, repairing old ones, generally working the day away. He found it rather calming. The constant pounding on steel and checking his work was a welcome distraction from the problems of life. All thoughts of the Night Fury were gone for the rest of the day.

* * *

Razorre was sweating like nothing he had before. He had been training intensely with his new sword for a few hours now and showed no signs of stopping. He had brought a waterskin along so that he didn't get dehydrated. After he had finished slicing the air, he slid the weapon back into it's scabbard and took a long draught from the skin. After that he sat with his back to a tree and rest for a short time. After that got up and decided to do some jogging. He was surprised that his stamina wasn't lower than it was. He kept up the pace for a good forty five minutes and then rested again. Something was off though. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

"Egg time!"

Razorre spun and drew his sword as Snotlout suddenly popped out of nowhere and hurled an egg at his head. Razorre bent out of the way, then hopped to the other side as Tuffnut appeared and tossed another egg. Ruffnut finally leapt out of hiding and whipped a third egg at Razorre. Razorre instantly swung his sword upward and sliced the egg in two before stepping out of the way. The three prankers stood dumbfounded. Razorre looked in shock.

"How did I just do that?"


	4. Chapter 4

Razorre stood dumbfounded while the twins and Snotlout opened and closed their mouths like fish. The scattered remains of the eggs were littered on the ground and judging by the horrid stench that had rapidly filled the air since the would-be pranksters had hurled them were really, really bad eggs.

Tuffnut was the first to unfreeze, much to everyone's surprise. Or not since Ruffnut and Snotlout were still in shock.

"Where did you learn to do that?! And more importantly, where can I learn it?

Razorre just looked down at his arms, still in almost as much shock as everyone else. Snotlout was the second person to unfreeze. Tuffnut busied himself by slapping Ruffnut in the face, half in effort to snap her out of it and half because it was fun.

"Okay, there must be some sort of trick right? There's no way anyone can move like that, much less you! I know you're fast-ish, but not that fast!"

Razorre suddenly snapped back into reality.

"I need to talk to Gothi. Like... right now!"

Razorre immediately turned around and booked it back towards the village with Snotlout and the twins, since Ruffnut had by this point returned to reality and punched Tuffnut in the face, in hot pursuit. Once he reached the stairs to Gothi's hut he began to run up them two at a time. Once he reached the top he stopped for a quick breather then began speaking to Gothi. By this point Snotlout and the twins had caught up and were completely exhausted. Gothi was in the middle of measuring the length of his eyelashes when they finally had recovered enough to speak.

"Why... (huff)... did you...(huff)... come to Gothi?"

Gothi was now painfully tugging on his earlobe.

"To find out what the heck is going on with me. Gothi, is this really nessesary?"

Gothi proceeded to whack him with her staff and then walked over to her sandpit and drew a stick figure, a cloud, a lightning bolt, then a more 'muscled' stick figure.

"So, you're saying that when the Skrill zapped me, it made me able to stuff like this?"

He turned to the twins and handed each of them a rock and told them to throw them past his head. Naturally, they opted to throw them at his head instead but to their surprise his hands shot up and caught both rocks within a few inches of his face. Gothi looked impressed and nodded.

"Thanks for the help Gothi. You know, this actually might help in the arena."

Razorre turned and walked past the twins and Snotlout who had entered a new state of shock from Razorre's amazing catch. By the time Razorre had reached the first quarter of the walk down, Gothi had clubbed all of them enough to give them all viking grade headaches. Once Razorre got down to the village he jogged to the smithy and was chatting with Gobber.

"So in a nutshell, the lightning bolt supercharged my reflexes and reaction time. If someone were to throw a knife at me, I might actually be able to catch it! I wonder how I could apply this in the kill ring..."

Gobber had a pleased grin on his face.

"At least ya won't be completely hopeless. You know, this reminds me of when Bucket had his head clubbed by a dragon. He may be a bit... loopy now, but he also became one ace of an artist."

Razorre nodded thoughtfully. He nodded to Gobber and waved goodbye as he walked back into the forest to train some more.

* * *

It was time for Nadder training. Gobber had erected a good sized maze that the trainees were running through while the Nadder was busy running around both in and on top of the maze while Gobber watched from outside, calling out instructions, advice, and criticism. The latest of said criticism was directed at Hiccup for asking to many questions on Night Furies instead of focusing on survival. Razorre darted through the maze quickly, using his newfound abilities to change directions on a yak pie. He paused for a moment and listened for the Nadder's squacking. He could hear something two passages down from him by his estimate. He quickly raised his shield and began to hug the wall. Then he heard the clicking noise of a Nadder's spines raising into attack mode. The air was suddenly filled with the sound of sharp, whistling projectiles while Fishlegs began shouting about Gobber's teaching methods. He spun his sword in his hands to loosen up his cramped hands. Gobber started calling out to look for the Nadder's blind spot. Razorre rolled his eyes at the fact that nobody else but him and Astrid were using that knowledge already. Then the twins started shouting at eachother which was immediately followed by Nadder breath. Razorre winced but kept moving. Meanwhile, Hiccup, Astrid and Snotlout were busy trying to get past the Nadder before it could spot them. In true Hiccup fashion, he was spotted and immediately began to book it for cover while the dragon charged him down and began to topple the maze when it collided with a wall. Astrid began to run around on top of the maze while the overgrown scale covered pigeon chased her down.

"Oi!"

Razorre sheathed his sword and grabbed a decent sized rock, proceding to throw it as hard as he could at the Nadder's flank. That got it's attention. It charged him down as he turned and bolted for the far wall. Then he got blasted upward when the Nadder unleashed a stream of fire at him. His arm got tangled in the chains that made up the roof of the kill ring, leaving him wide open. The dragon prowled closer and closer, it's eyes fixed on him. It fired another burst of fire breath at him, melting the chain in such a way that he was freed, although he still had a sizable length of chain wrapped around his arm. By this point, Astrid had gotten it's attention again and it sent her flying right into Hiccup, as well as lodging her axe in his shield. She immediately began yanking frantically on it to free the weapon as the dragon bared down on them. Just as it was about to strike, something slowed it down suddenly. Astrid used this opportunity to smash the shield against the Nadder's head, revealing that Razorre had snapped the chain around the spine frill on the Nadder's head to slow it down. He exhaled in relief that they were both unharmed, but it didn't last. Astrid immediately rounded on Hiccup and began shouting. Razorre just shook his head and walked out of the arena, stopping to examine the chain still wrapped around his arm.

" _This might actually be useful"_

Razorre jogged down to the workshop and began drawing up a design while he waited for Gobber. Once Gobber returned, he immediately got up and struck up a conversation.

"So, how do you make chains?"

Gobber seemed a little bit shocked at the question, but began instructing him all the same. Razorre began hammering away, making each link individually before connecting them all into a small length of chain. He stowed it away before heading up to the fire pit for dinner. Hiccup just nodded. He grabbed a chicken leg and seated himself down at a table seperate from the others. Gobber was giving them all some pointers on fighting Nadders for the next time. Razorre didn't even pretend to be listening. He had read the whole dragon manual three times when he was recovering from the Skrill attack. He knew the book from back to front, though not nearly as good a Fishlegs. Speaking of the Skrill though...

"Gobber, are we going to learn how to fight the Skrill?"

All the teens suddenly looked up at Razorre, then at Gobber. Gobber's eyes widened slightly and flicked from one person to the next. After some awkward silence, Gobber made up his mind.

"(Ahem) I don't think we will. That beast is much too dangerous for you to be learning to fight now. Most fully grown vikings think twice about attacking a Skrill."

Razorre shrugged and finished his chicken leg before getting up and heading back to the forge. Gobber had started talking about how he lost his arm and leg because of Monstrous Nightmares. He made more chain links and added them to his project before heading up to his room for the night. Hiccup was using the forge anyway.

* * *

Hiccup was trying to make sense of everything that had happened since the kill ring. He had gone back to the cove with a fish and shield where he encountered the Night Fury again. After a few scares and eating some really disgusting regurgitated fish, the dragon was acting unnervingly calm around him and he had discovered that the dragon could retract his teeth into his gums. After he spent some time drawing in the sand, the Night Fury wandered over and watched for a few seconds before ripping a branch off a tree and drawing as well! After some more observations and interactions, Hiccup rushed back to the village for dinner. Razorre left early so he just listened to Gobber flapping his gums about his arm and leg. Then Gobber mentioned something very interesting.

Dragons whose tail is damaged can't fly. Hiccup immediately rushed down to the forge just as Razorre was finishing up for the night on a project of his before heading up to his room. The next while was a blur as he worked late on his latest project. Finally it was finished. Hiccup wandered back to his house and collapsed on his bed, completely exhausted.

The next morning, Hiccup got up early and grabbed the tailfin he had made that night and a basket of fish. He was about halfway there when Razorre popped up out of no where.

"Hey, where ya going?"

Hiccup froze and began trying to come up with a good alibi. He never got the chance.

"I know that look. you always have that look when you've been caught about to do something reckless, crazy, and or dangerous. Or all of the above. Lets hear it."

Hiccup groaned and shook his head.

"Fine. Come with me, but don't scream and don't draw any weapons."

The trekked through the woods until they reached the cove. Hiccup turned around told Razorre to come out behind him after three seconds.

He walked out with as much confidence as he could muster while he walked towards the dragon.

"Hey Toothless, I brought you breakfast! Hope you're hungry!"

Hiccup tipped the basket of fish over while Razorre came out of hiding. Toothless immediately zeroed in on him and growled. Razorre's hand immediately dropped to his sword, but did not draw it. Hiccup immediately rushed to Toothless.

"Woah, bud. Easy, easy. He's a friend."

Toothless relaxed a bit, but didn't stop eyeing Razorre as though daring him to draw his sword. Razorre's eyes flicked back and forth between Toothless and Hiccup, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Hiccup, are you about to tell me that you are keeping a pet Night Fury in the woods?"

"No, I've been keeping a secret flower garden. What do you think you're looking at?! Oh, and please don't tell anyone about this. I don't want to be chased of Berk or have Toothless beheaded before Snoggletog."

Razorre actually rolled his eyes at Hiccup's snarking and slowly removed his hand from the sword. Toothless eased up a bit more and started to nose the fish, trying to choose a starter. Razorre walked over to a rock and sat down, letting the sudden charge of adrenaline die down as he watch Toothless suddenly become a bit more skiddish of the fish pile. Hiccup noted that Toothless had tensed up as soon as he saw the eel he had brought with him. He reached down and grabbed it only for Toothless to get much more freaked out. He swiftly tossed the eel away and rubbed his hands on his vest as he began moving back towards the dragon's tail. Razorre decided to chime in again.

"And you named this Night Fury, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, Toothless?"

Hiccup shrugged.

"He has retractible teeth and when I first met him he ended up trying to mimick me smiling."

Razorre's lip twitched a bit as he pictured Toothless trying to smile. Hiccup had just finished attaching the prosthetic tailfin to Toothless and unbeknownst to him, Toothless was spreading his wings in preparation to take flight. Razorre noticed this and realized what was about to happen.

"Hey Hiccup."

"Yeah?"

"Hold on."

"What? Woah!"

Toothless leapt into the air and began pumping his wings as he took flight, Hiccup clinging to his tail for dear life and using some rather creative swear words as Toothless continued to climb. After a near miss with the ground and a loop around the cove, Toothless realized he had a passenger and used a quick turn to throw Hiccup clean off of his tail. However, that caused Toothless to crash into the water. Razorre was howling with laughter while Hiccup was cheering the success of his invention. As Hiccup and Toothless dragged themselves out of the water, Toothless ambled over to Razorre and proceeded to spit an entire mouthful of water over his head! Razorre looked at the Night Fury as he made a laughing noise in his throat. Hiccup walked over and chuckled a bit as well. Razorre got to his feet and watched as Toothless walked over to a scorched patch of earth and proceeded to scorch it again before settling down for a nap.

"That is one incredible beast."

Hiccup smiled as he gazed at the Night Fury as well.

"He sure is."

Razorre noticed the sun climbing towards the highest point.

"It's almost noon. we should he back to the village and get ready for... class."

Hiccup nodded and went to retrieve the eel he had tossed away earlier and hid it under his fur vest.

"This'll definitely come in handy during class."

Razorre simply rolled his eyes and grabbed Hiccup by the arm before turning him to face him.

"I'll keep your secret, but you gotta do something for me."

Hiccup suddenly seemed a bit aprehensive.

"What is it?"

Razorre got a wide grin.

"You have got to teach me how you did that."


	5. Chapter 5

Razorre and Hiccup swiftly established a daily routine. Since lessons were about every other day, so they used the time they had between to perfect the tailfin and visit Toothless. Toothless had become very fond of Razorre and liked to play wrestle with him or play pounce. Pounce was a game that was as simple as it's name. Toothless would try to pounce of Razorre while Razorre used his agility to avoid being tackled to the ground. Often enough Toothless would wait at the entrance to the cove to try and catch him. However, he always preferred spending time with Hiccup and figuring out how best to operate the tail. Well, more just getting in the air and flying plus the freshly found patch of newly dubbed dragon nip. They also made plenty of discoveries thanks to Toothless, such as the fact that Dragons love to chase light dots on the ground, and that they loved to be scratched, especially under the chin. When Razorre wasn't tagging along with Hiccup to visit Toothless he was training in the woods or working on his secret project. His speed and agility were without any par now and he put that to the test by setting up an obstacle course that he had to perform various jumps, slides and the like to navigate to the end. The project itself was now almost completely finished. He just needed to add more links to it and he would be ready to test it.

Training was much more interesting now that they knew other ways to handle the dragons. Hiccup would test their discoveries while Razorre made sure no one noticed or was hurt. On their latest class, he had finally brought his project with him. It was a length of chain, about as thick as the rope they used for bolas that he wore wrapped diagonally around his shoulder to his hip. He had also had begun working on a custom suit of armor for himself and had just finished the arms and chestplate.

Hiccup was quickly becoming a celebrity in the village with his ability to deal with the dragons in the ring and it had Astrid fuming. There was no possible way that Hiccup could be ahead of her! Razorre found it amusing how angry it was making her, but Hiccup was getting concerned. One day, while he was heading to the cove, he ran across Astrid and almost got caught. He made it to the cove without being discovered and thanked the gods for it. Then one day, she happened upon Razorre while he was running his personal obstacle course, which had redesigned when it became too easy. He could easily navigate Berk without ever touching the ground now and had begun implimenting natural obstacles such as fallen trees and rocks for additional challenge.

"When did you learn how to do that exactly?"

Razorre tried to dodge the question with bits about working out in secret, but Astrid wasn't having any of it. Finally he caved and told her.

"You know how after Bucket got clubbed in the head he became an amazing artist? Well after that Skrill zapped me, I got enhanced agility and reaction time."

Astrid was a bit skeptical, but let the matter rest. Although she did fume to herself that it was unfair that others had to work really hard to attain such abilities and that he got them by being struck by lightning.

Finally, they had perfected the tail and were ready to give it a test run. They gave Toothless a giant basket of fish to keep him occupied while they fixed the new mechanisms to the prosthetic.

"So, when are we going to take that conraption out for a test run?"

Hiccup shrugged.

"In a day or two. I want to figure out what I need to do to properly operate the tail so that we don't plummet to a horrible death. Speaking of which, can you go get the rope for that?"

Razorre rolled his eyes and wandered over to the coil of rope they had decided to use for testing out the tail and how it's various positions affected speed, turning and the like. Meanwhile, Hiccup hopped onto Toothless' saddle and waited for Razorre to join them before doing some jumping glides to a windy spot where they could glide in place and write down all the tail positions. This of course, led to some Hiccup luck as the rope snapped, sending Hiccup and Toothless hurtling back and getting stuck together when the hook that anchored them together was bent, thereby preventing the ring from disconnecting from the hook. Razorre found this rather amusing and did his best to hide his snickers, but Hiccup still made an attempt to murder him via glaring.

"I'll go get the tools."

It was very dark by the time Razorre returned with the tools they would need to straighten the hook. When they finished, they bolted back to their houses and went straight to sleep. The next morning, they got up and went to the arena for the class of the day. They were dealing with the Zippleback again today. Hiccup used two handfuls of dragon nip to put the Zippleback in a state of bliss.

Hiccup then began to 'guide' the woozy dragon back to it's pen, but it accidentally collapsed right on top of one of the levers used to open the cages. Everyone tensed up as the barrier log lifted up. Following this was an earsplitting roar and a crackling noise. Razorre suddenly tensed up and began to make for the exit with as much haste as he could muster. The pen doors blasted open.

The Skrill was loose.

Immediately, everyone charged for the gate as the Skrill began sparking. It didn't blast though. Instead, it charged after everyone just as they got out of the arena. Razorre's eyes didn't leave the Skrill as it roared at everyone. By this point, the gathered crowd was jumping into the arena and grabbing the weapons that were stocked there. The ones that didn't grabbed coils of rope. The Skrill turned and saw the oncoming tide of rage filled vikings and knew that these were not odds it could win against. It turned and leapt into the air, but not before several bola and ropes were thrown at it. Most went wide, but several managed to loop around the Skrill as it made it's escape. It vanished into the trees, seemingly unhampered by all the extra weight it had been saddled with. With no dragon to fight, the crowd dispersed and walked back down to the village. Everyone except the teens that is. They had all noticed that Razorre was still seemingly frozen in place. Hiccup walked over and gently shook Razorre, but nothing seemed to change. Then Astrid punched him in the face.

"Oh, sweet mother of Loki! I think you cracked my jaw!"

Astrid had a pretty smug and satisfied look on her face after that. Hiccup just looked concerned for his friend.

"What happened to you. You froze up and got all pale."

Razorre exhaled heavily and sat down on a rock.

"When that Skrill got loose, I flashed back to when it blasted me. That's not all. I also heard men yelling and thunder. And I felt cold. Really cold. Not like when the Skrill first attacked me. This was different."

The twins and Snotlout were already leaving by the time Razorre finished and were joking about his freeze up. Astrid also began proceeding down the mountain, seemingly indifferent. Hiccup and Razorre both began down the mountain.

"I don't think that dragon left the island."

Hiccup seemed a little surprised by Razorre's sudden declaration.

"Why? It looked fine when it took off."

"Then why did it not fly over the forest and away from Berk. I think it's still on the island and I'm going to go look for it."

Now Hiccup was shocked.

"You can't go after that thing by yourself! You'll be fried! Why would you even consider it?!"

Razorre huffed, a determined expression on his face.

"Look, I can't spend the rest of my life freezing up every time there's lightning, thunder or a Skrill. I've got to do this for my own piece of mind."

Hiccup opened his mouth to argue, but Razorre didn't let him.

"Don't worry. I actually whipped up a little something for dealing with the Skrill. I haven't tested it, but I'm confident that it will work. You're not talking me out of this Hiccup, and you aren't going with me."

Hiccup closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fine. Just promise to come back in one piece. And please don't kill that dragon. It just doesn't sit well with me anymore."

Razorre gave him a smirk and started towards the armory.

"Hiccup, Hiccup. If anyone's more likely to lose a limb, it's you!"

Hiccup groaned at Razorre's jab and decided to go meet up with Toothless. He wanted to make some final alterations to his harness and bring Toothless a large basket of fish.

Razorre walked into the shop and yanked a large canvas tarp off of his latest creation. It was the suit of armor he had been working on, finally completed. The armor consisted of a thin, but strong layer of steel on his chest, forearms, lower legs, back and a helmet that completely covered his face. Beneath that was a layer of chain mail that protected what the steel did not. Finally, underneath the steel was a layer of leather. The armor was flexible and allowed a full range of motion. The helmet itself was a work of art. It had two curved 'fins' that were mounted on the side of the helmet, going over where his ears were. These were continued with engravings that went over his eyebrows and around the eyeholes, ending on the outside of the aforementioned eyeholes.

After dawning the armor for the first time, he strapped his sword to his side and snuck out of the village and into the forest. He slipped through the edges of the forest until he reached the area the Skrill escaped through. From here he walked as lightly as he could in his armor as he searched for any signs that indicated that the Skrill had been there. He didn't have to look hard. There were plenty of scratches and broken branches that left a trail into the forest.

He trekked through the forest until he heard a familier screech. It sounded in distress. He approached slowly and saw the Skrill flaily wildly, seemingly trapped in place. It quickly became apparent why. It had several ropes tangled around it and some nearby trees. It was trapped and it's panicked struggling was making the situation worse. If it wasn't released soon, it could hurt itself. Badly.

Razorre took a step forward as he slowly dropped a hand to his sword. The Skrill stopped and swung it's head around, it's eyes narrow and it's jaws pulled into a snarl. Razorre froze as well, moving his hand away from the sword. The Skrill roared and sparked as it tried to right itself, only to fall back on it's side. Razorre slowly began moving towards the trees, his hand once again dropping to his sword. the Skrill shrieked at him as he drew and swung it downward. Then all was still. The Skrill slowly realized that it wasn't stuck anymore and it got up on it's legs and narrowed is focus on Razorre. Razorre was suddenly filled with an all consuming urge to run, but his legs wouldn't work. Mustering all his courage, he dropped his sword and began to force his legs to move slowly forward. The Skrill snarled and snapped at him. He quickly backed off. Then a thought struck him.

 _"I must be completely insane"_

Razorre slowly lifted his hands to his helmet and pulled it off. From there, he placed it back on the ground and extended his hand while looking away. The Skrill hesitated, but slowly inched forward and pressed it's snout against his palm. Razorre's breath hitched and he slowly looked back. The Skrill backed up and made a rumbling noise in it's throat. Razorre felt a strange weight being removed from his chest. Then the Skrill rumbled again.

Well, not it's throat. Razorre snickered a bit.

"You're hungry aren't you."

The Skrill began sniffing the air. Then Razorre suddenly realized that it was looking for sheep.

"Oh no."

He waved his arms to get the dragon's attention, then motioned for it to follow him. The Skrill tilted it's head to the side and complied. Razorre also grabbed his sword and helmet and jogged back to the cove. Hiccup was busy with his sketchbook and Toothless was napping in his favourite spot. Razorre lightly hopped from one rock to the other until he reached the bottom of the cove. The Skrill followed behind and flapped it's wings a few times on the way down. Toothless raised his head and upon seeing the Skrill, lowered his fins and narrowed his pupils. the Skrill noticed the Night Fury and spread it's wings while baring it's teeth and sparking with electricity. Razorre quickly got between the Skrill and Toothless and held his arms out in front of him while Hiccup did the same behind him.

"Calm down big guy, we're all friends here!"

"Toothless, it's okay! No fighting needed!"

Toothless stopped snarling and slowly calmed down. The Skrill followed suit and the two began to investigate eachother. Hiccup turned to Razorre.

"You wanted to train that thing from the beginning didn't you."

Razorre gave an annoying smile and walked up to the Skrill and began to scratch him under the chin.

"Well, I couldn't kill him. Besides, I owed him."

The Skrill began to make a purring sound as Razorre continued to scratch him. Then it's stomach rumbled again. Razorre snickered a bit and turned to Hiccup.

"Make sure he doesn't leave. I'm gonna go get some mutton."

Razorre swiftly departed and snuck into the storage house where he swiped as much mutton as he could reasonably carry. He booked it back to the cove where the Skrill and Toothless were wrestling. Razorre whistled and the Skrill looked up and immediately abandoned the contest to grab the meat that Razorre had deposited on the ground. After it finished the meal, it gave Razorre a sloppy lick that left him with his hair spiked straight up. Hiccup began howling with laughter while Toothless proceded to walk up behind Hiccup and do the same to him! Now it was Razorre's turn to laugh.

After the fits of giggles subsided, Hiccup and Razorre both dunked their heads in the spring before gathering their things. They both gave their dragons a goodbye scratch before turning to leave, but Hiccup remembered something.

"You haven't named him yet."

Razorre paused and thought about it for a few moments.

"Thresher. That's your name."

Thresher seemed pleased with this name and gave Razorre a light bump with his nose before walking over to a large outcropping of rock before circling a few times and settling in for the night. Hiccup and Razorre both departed from the cove and back to town just in time for dinner. The both sat down at a table to the side with plates of of smoked halibut and began a hushed conversation.

"So, we need to whip up another saddle before we head out for that test run. We can do that tonight. We should try for tomorrow. We have a whole day to ourselves."

Hiccup nodded.

"Yeah, Toothless really want's to get back in the air. Thresher will be great in case anything goes wrong."

They toasted their mugs of water, drained them and left the hall to create a saddle for Thresher. It took them a few hours, but it was worth it. It looked remarkably like Toothless' saddle, but with a few changes.

The next day, they got up early and grabbed food for their respective dragons and hurried to the cove. It took them a while to get the saddle on Thresher, but when it was done they immediately hopped on and took to the skies.

It was time for a test run.


	6. Chapter 6

Stoick was in a bad mood. The search had gone horribly and they had barely made it back with their lives. He stepped out of the broken remains of the ship to be greeted by Gobber.

"I trust you found the nest at least."

"Not even close. I hope you had more success than me."

"Well if by success you mean your parenting troubles are over then, yes."

Stoick was immediately greeted by many of the villagers yammering about a nuicance being gone.

"He's gone?"

"Uh, yeah. Most afternoons, but who can blame him. I mean the life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by his new fans."

"Hiccup?"

"Who woulda thought it eh? He has this way with the beasts. And Razorre! He moves like the wind! I've seen him running up walls and leaping over dragons! They can't lay so much as a single talon on him!"

Stoick couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hiccup was top of the class? It seemed impossible.

Hiccup and Razorre were not anywhere in the village. Technically they weren't on the island. They were both several hundred feat above the ground atop Toothless and Thresher. Razorre and Thresher were flying a little further behind them while Hiccup and Toothless got used to the prosthetic tail.

"C'mon Hiccup, get a move on!"

Hiccup huffed at Razorre's 'encouragement' as he and Toothless made a turn.

"Ok, it's go time. It's go time."

Both dragons tilted into a dive and threaded a needle through a sea stack. With his confidence bolstered, Hiccup tried to steer around another stack, but just crashed straight into it instead. And then proceded to do it again. Displeased with the turn of events, Toothless used his ear flap to smack Hiccup in the cheek. Razorre stifled a laugh as Toothless began to climb higher. Thresher and Razorre followed behind, catching up in a few seconds. Hiccup and Razorre both whooped in delight as they continued to climb higher into the air.

The elation didn't last long as Hiccup's cheat sheet flew free and he made a panicked scramble to retrieve it. However, this caused the hook that anchored Hiccup to Toothless to become seperated. The both continued to rise for a few moments before beginning to plummet uncontrollably towards the forest below. Noticing this immediately, Razorre pulled Thresher around and had him tuck in his wings as they dove after them. After some moments that they would laugh about later, Hiccup managed to get back into Toothless' saddle and hooked himself in. From there, Toothless opened his wings to maximize drag and slow down while Razorre and Thresher mimicked them.

After some rather hair raising aerobatic manuevers, they came out alive and in one piece! Toothless even celebrated with a plasmablast that erupted into a fireball, leaving Hiccup looking a tad crisp. If you get my meaning.

"Seriously! You look like you rolled in charcoal!"

"Oh, come on! We don't all have armor suits that protect us from fire!"

"While that may be true, it really starts to boil in this thing. At least out here it does. Back on Berk its fine."

Razorre and Hiccup were both sitting around a camp fire while Toothless and Thresher ate from seperate piles of fish. As it turned out, Thresher would eat sturgeon, but only sturgeon. He was also remarkably good at plucking it out of the water. Like rider like dragon. Razorre liked sturgeon as well. Sadly, they were hard to catch with nets because of their incredible strength and bony backs. Berk fishermen hated Sturgeon for all the catches they lost when a Sturgeon broke the net.

"You mind sharing some with me buddy?"

Thresher looked over at him an snorted a puff of vapor before nosing over a bitten-in-half piece. Razorre took it and roasted it on his own stick before pulling a piece off and tossing it his mouth.

"Man, this is the best time for eating sturgeon."

They kept talking for a while before a small flock of Terrors flew by. Thresher and Toothless immediately started growling while pulling their horde of precious fish closer. Thresher gathered it all in a pile underneath him and started sparking, deterring the terrors from even trying to steal one if his slimy, smelly treasures. One of the terrors managed to get away with the fish head that Toothless had regurgitated for Hiccup. Another one tried to steal it when the original thief had it's back turned, but was discovered and chased off by a small goute of flame.

Toothless watched the whole display, unamused. Then he happened to see one of his fish seemed to be walking away! A Terror emerged from the pile, trying to make a break with it's ill-gotten goods, but Toothless wasn't having any of it. He grabbed the fish in his mouth and yanked it back, swallowing it whole. He made a laughing noise in his throat, provoking the Terror to start making a display of scratching the ground before rearing up to deliver a blast of fiery justice! Only for Toothless to fire a small blast that ignited the gas buildup in the Terror's mouth, causing it to blow up like a balloon. Razorre found this rather funny and stifled his laughter as the Terror stumbled passed them, looking very disoeriented. Hiccup just smiled and shook his head.

"Not so fireproof in the inside are ya? Here ya go."

Hiccup tossed his half-roasted fish over to the Terror, who eagerly snapped it up and scampered over to Hiccup before nuzzling him and curling up beside him for a nap. Razorre watched with a slight smile and leaned back against Thresher.

"Everything we know about you guys... is wrong."

Razorre nodded.

"Be careful, Toothless might get jealous."

Hiccup grabbed one of Toothless' fish, much to the dragon's indignant protest, and chucked it in Razorre's face. Razorre grabbed the fish and lobbed it over to Toothless, who snapped it out of the air.

After the long day, they flew back to Berk and landed in the cove, said goodbye to their dragons and began the trek back to the village. The mood was a little bit down. In the back of their heads, they knew that the big test to see who would face the Monstrous Nightmare was rapidly approaching, and that the contest was between Hiccup and Astrid. Right now, the odds favoured Hiccup and that could lead to unsavory results. Thus, they were faced with two immediate options for if Hiccup won. One, they skip town. Book it. Make for the horizon. They had dragons, so it wouldn't be too challenging. The other was to make an attempt to show the villagers the truth about dragons.

The two kept going back to the forge and sat down. They sat in silence before Razorre finally spoke up.

"Look, all cards on the table, I think we should book it should things turn out sour tomorrow. They won't let me into the ring since it's just you and Astrid, so I could get supplies ready and we can hightail it out of here the moment you can get away from your adoring public."

Hiccup considered it.

"Are you sure? Don't you think we should at least try to change their minds? Make them see that dragons aren't mindless killing machines?"

Razorre shrugged and put his hand on the table.

"Believe me, I would love to do that just as much as you do, but we have to take into consideration that this is the Hairy Hooligan tribe of Berk, lead by Stoick the Vast. I'm not sure they would listen even if they could prevent Ragnarok by doing so."

Hiccup grudgingly agreed.

"Okay. When the sun comes up, you start gathering supplies. I'll head up to the arena early and make sure that as many people know. That'll probably draw a crowd. You take care of final preparations and get back in time to see the ending. Hopefully it'll go without a hitch."

Razorre nodded and left for bed. He was just starting to fall asleep when he heard someone heavyset squeeze through the door to the workshop. He could hear Stoick downstairs, having a laugh and seeming very pleased. After he left, Razorre finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Razorre got out of bed and started gathering supplies. He had managed to amass a large amount of mutton and fish for the dragons, as well as a thin blanket for each of them. He through his armor on and grabbed two knives. One for him, and one for Hiccup. He started making his way back to the arena when he heard the crowd cheering. He rushed up to see the Gronkle that Astrid and Hiccup were fighting was lying on it's side, leg twitching and tongue hanging out the side of it's mouth. Astrid completely lost it before she was brought back in line with Hiccup for Gothi to deside the victor. No surprise, she chose Hiccup. Razorre shook his head. Looks like they were going to make a break for it.

He waited off to the side while the crowd left, but felt someone grab the back of his armor and yank him backwards. He was suddenly face to face with a very angry Astrid who had her axe held to his throat.

"I want to know what in the name of Loki's pants is going on. You and Hiccup have been disappearing from the village and somehow, he's managed to take first place! That's where I'm supposed to be! You know him best, so tell me. HOW HAS HE GOTTEN SO GOOD?!"

Razorre held up his hands and gently moved the axe away with his finger.

"I don't know, but if you wanna ask him, we usually meet at my obstacle course after matches to hang out. You know, get away from the village, talk about the day. You know, things that friends do?" He answered in a small voice.

Astrid pushed her way passed him and stormed off in the direction of his obstacle course. Once she was out of sight, he casually made his way to the village before ducking out of sight and rushing to the cove. He had all of their essentials packed and had also grabbed a few of their designs for new heavy weaponry, just in case someone decided to go ahead and have a go at making one of them. Hiccup was already waiting. He had gotten everything secured to both the dragons and was leaning against Toothless. The two friends looked at eachother.

"Can't believe we're actually leaving Berk."

Razorre looked up at the sky.

"It is quite strange, isn't it. Well then, into the great beyond?"

Hiccup smiled a little.

"Into the great beyond."

The dragons pumped their wings and they soared into the air. They took a wide lap around Berk, just to take one last look at the island that had been their home for many years. After they finished their lap, they took off south. It was the beginning of a brand new chapter.

Unspoken between the two of them, they had come to a mutual agreement. By taking this step, by leaving Berk by dragonback, they had declared to the world that they were no longer vikings.

They were the first Dragon Riders.


End file.
